Johannesburg - Workers should lead themselves when labour unions neglect them, expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema said on Monday.

"Leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM] should know that you can't act for workers without consulting them, and don't take workers for granted," he told strikers at Gold Fields' KDC gold mine in Westonaria, on the West Rand.

"If they fail you, you must lead yourself."

Malema's speech evoked loud cheers from the miners, who have been on strike since last Wednesday.

They wanted the NUM's local leadership to resign.

Malema told the workers that one of their grievances had been resolved.

This related to money which management had apparently deducted from their salaries for a funeral policy without their consent. Malema said the money would be returned.

"Management was wrong to allow people to deduct money from you without your signatures."

Malema said the deductions for the funeral policy would be terminated.

'Not threatening foreign investment'

"But it must not end there. There must be criminal investigations [into] who did the fraud."

Malema said the miners were not threatening foreign investment with their strike, as some newspapers had reported.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Saving your profile

Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location.
If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a
location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to
take affect.

Your Location*

Weather*

Always remember my setting

Saving your settings

Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.